Inner Bedesten, i.e. Cevahir (Jewelry) Bedesten, being one of the two covered bazaars (bedesten) forming the heart of Grand Bazaar, has the sizes of 48 m x 36 m, and it is more likely to be built in Byzantine times. Called as Sandal Bedesten, New Bedesten is the second important structure of Grand Bazaar, and its construction started on 1461. It is called as Sandal Bedesten because a type of cloth woven of cotton and silk fibers, named Sandal was sold here.

1461, when Sultan Mehmed II started the construction, was accepted as the foundation date of our Grand Bazaar. The main great bazaar was started to be constructed as wooden by Sultan Kanuni Süleyman. The valuable goods, such as jewelry, precious stone, fur and weapons, beside the most of the national treasury were protected here. Evliya (Saint) Çelebi defined it as a greatly strong building.

According to the findings of Prof. Dr. Onder Küçükerman, Topkapı Palace became the brain of empire, and Grand Bazaar became the heart of economy. At the beginning of 19th century, when banks and bankers started to settle in Galata, the heart of economy of the empire started to beat here. Then the brain of the empire, i.e. the Palace also moved to that side and settled in Dolmabahçe, Yıldız and Çırağan. In Grand Bazaar, where the functionality of guild system was maintained until Constitutional Period, any kind of profession was taught and held operatively through master-apprentice relations. After Constitutional Period, as a result of changing conditions, the guild system was impaired and trading was according to the conditions of that time.

Bedesten and Bazaar suffered more than 20 earthquake and fire disasters, starting from the fire on November 20, 1651 in Mehmet IV to he fire on November 26, 1954, and it underwent major restoration after the earthquake in 1894. made, and took its final form. 

According to expression of Evliya (Saint) Çelebi in his book, named Seyahatname, there were 4399 stores, 2195 rooms, 497 small stores called as closets, two restaurants, twelve treasury offices, one mosque, ten small mosques (mescit), one Turkish bath (hamam), 19 fountains, eight wells with pumps, 24 inns, one school and tomb. 

The reason of the decrease in the number of stores and inns today is that some of the inns and streets located inside the Bazaar, such as Sarnıçlı Han, Paçavracı Han, Alipaşa Cami Han, Yolgeçen Han, Tığcılar Street, Örücüler Street and Çadırcılar Avenue, were moved outside of the Bazaar during the restoration started after the earthquake in 1894 and ended in 1898.

In Empire Period, our Grand Bazaar was called as Çarşu-ı Kebir, i.e. Great Bazaar, just like Grand Bazaar being used today, in order to differ from other covered bazaars of the country. This is recorded in the title deeds of the families working as tradesmen for more than three or four generations. 

Since the avenues and streets of Grand Bazaar were where the persons doing same business gather together, they were given the names according to the branches of business, such as Kalpakçılar (Fur Cap Sellers), Kuyumcular (Jewellers), Aynacılar (Mirror Sellers), Fesçiler (Tarboosh Sellers), Yağlıkçılar (Sellers of towel, cloth, etc.). Grand Bazaar was always kept alive in every era as a world of fairytale in the books of foreign itinerants and in the paintings of foreign artists. Turkish poet Orhan Veli Kanık described Grand Bazaar and the treasury hidden inside by his poem ending with the lines “Do not underrate Grand Bazaar, Grand Bazaar is a closed book.”

Being the oldest bank, the greatest and the oldest shopping mall, one of the most mysterious and gorgeous places in the world, possibly the eighth wonder, Grand Bazaar is waiting to entertain the persons, who would adopt relics of our ancestors, not just as customers, but as partners and guests by its tradesmen and administrative committee determined to keep up with the time, and by Health Unit, Post Office, bank branches, private fire department, police station, Private Security Service founded in accordance with the laws, coffee shops and restaurants, and the historical and cultural treasury hidden inside.